the pink palermo wrote:At no point did we look like winning yesterday , and once they got the second a draw seemed beyond us .

All 4 summer signings started, by the time the reinforcements arrive three league games will have gone by , and the season effectively all about mid table mediocrity .

Slaven needs to chuck everything he has got at the league cup , everything , hold nothing back .

And according to the 'experts' on Radio 5 on the way up there yesterday, the 4 players we signed were Slav's top transfer target during the summer.The journey back to Leicester, avoiding the M6 altogether wasn't helped by the muppet on 606 creaming himself saying "that's what all football fans have been waiting to see, Man Utd back to their attacking best". No mention of the fact that we offered virtually nothing but if the 'experts' are happy all's good.

Hammer.CA wrote:And according to the 'experts' on Radio 5 on the way up there yesterday, the 4 players we signed were Slav's top transfer target during the summer.The journey back to Leicester, avoiding the M6 altogether wasn't helped by the muppet on 606 creaming himself saying "that's what all football fans have been waiting to see, Man Utd back to their attacking best". No mention of the fact that we offered virtually nothing but if the 'experts' are happy all's good.

...and presumably not a mention made that their task was made all the easier by a team full of players who cannot master the basic skills of the game, like receive a pass from a colleague, control a moving ball, shake off an opponent, without conceding possession and lay it off to a colleague who has made space for himself to receive a pass. It really does make me wonder just what we do in training ? because I don't think we practice that

Would have played byram instead of sure yesterday. However we stunk the place out and the rest is history. I blame the Players before the mananger. We had a couple of real bottle jobs on display yesterday

Individually some of the Manchester United players put in performances that would have made it difficult for most teams but what was disappointing was how little trouble we caused them at the back because I don't think they are that great there.

What concerns me is that we sign good players and do not play to their strengths instead put them in formations where we would have been better off buying lesser players but ones that actually are far more comfortable with the way we play. It seems we sign names above profiling the player we need in the team and going out and buying a player that fits the profile.

Also with Carroll out of the side we struggle defending set pieces, because his remit is simply to defend the ball while others defend players in his absence no one seems to be defending the ball and if someone loses their marker they get a free header as ball floats over unchallenged, this has happened a lot in pre-season so yesterday wasn't an isolated incident.

Dwight1970 wrote:Also with Carroll out of the side we struggle defending set pieces, because his remit is simply to defend the ball while others defend players in his absence no one seems to be defending the ball and if someone loses their marker they get a free header as ball floats over unchallenged, this has happened a lot in pre-season so yesterday wasn't an isolated incident.

This was exactly what I thought especially after their second goal. Without Carroll and Kouyate, we are quite a small side and it is going to make it difficult to defend set pieces when the oppo send their big defenders up.

I am a bit surprised by some suddenly thinking Arthur and Ayew are a waste of time. Arthur is half decent going forward but really can't defend to save his life. This was again borne out yesterday. Ayew hasn't really impressed me since day1.Gets into some decent positions but is hardly a lethal finisher. Reminds me of Valencia in some ways.

I'm not going to pretend it wasn't bad. It was. Ad I don't want to make ecuses but I will.

We picked a decent 11 plus one decent attacker on the bench. We need more luck with injuries and we need a striker and a winger, yesterday. We cam up against a decent side who might win the league.

I don't think we were that bad. We were thoroughly outplayed, yes, but that can happen away at a better side (see Man U vs Real Madrid 5 days before our game). But for one small mistake we could have gone into the last 10 still in the game, and then anything can happen. The margins are so fine, only most weeks the dds won't be so heavily stacked against us.

I try to be positive, I also try not to knee-jerk at every performance.

Having watched the game again without so much distraction in the booze, Noble stood out head and shoulders above anyone else on the park for us. He was back to his best and was our best player before he was wrongly taken off. Bilic really did have a brain fart moment if Noble wasn't carrying a knock which would explain his puzzled expression on his face when asked to be subbed.

If anyone's in doubt, please do watch the match again and watch Noble like a hawk. He got through a shed load of work and most of it was of real quality. Key blocks, tackles, passes, interceptions, the lot.

Hopefully he can keep his form up if that's what we can expect of him this season which is reminiscent of the Boleyn season (and on a big pitch contrary to a belief that he struggles).

As a slight aside, I've never understood why we never sing the He's every ****ing where song for Noble as it's made for him but there you go. The 1 song he has just fizzles out so people rarely bother singing it.

As for Masuaku and Obiang, they both stunk the place out. Really poor performances by them.

The little Hernandez had of the ball, he oozed class. He's such a responsible mature player, always protecting the ball and riding an incoming foul, then passes and moves as good as any top Striker does. Not that I'm surprised but he really is the real deal and a joy to watch. Even off the ball he's intelligent intelligent as **** with the runs he makes. Noble found him a few times too and liked how they linked up. They're on the same wavelength.

well said CNR. The only addition I would add is Rice looked decent when he came on considering his age, the occasion and the opposition. Very assured and confident performance, constantly making himself available to receive the ball and distributing it sensible and with purpose. Looks like a player in the making.

If Noble's showing is what some now class as a good performance from our central midfield players then we're in trouble. For me he played as he has done for the past season and a half. No better, no worse. Obiang was shocking, there's no doubting that but there aren't too many times I've seen him perform like that.

We were total **** in midfield on Sunday. It was like watching a top tier side take on a League 2. A massive improvement is needed from who ever plays there at St Mary's on Saturday. Personally I wouldn't mind if Rice got a start